Haye just went up a gear in terms of global profile and marketability, and this is boxing. Lest we forget, the only fight of the same kind of magnitude is at a certain lower weight division, and I'm sure we all remember how quickly that fight got made. Oh, wait: No it didn't. Adam Carolla was right when he said that we live in an instant-gratification culture, and promoters know that these things need time to brew, and that testing the market's patience usually pulls in a lot more cash. Haye won't fight the Klitschkos next. In fact, I doubt he fights them in his next two fights, at least. He's going to pull at least 8 million dollars per fight against two 'lesser' opponents first, and that's not even taking into account the WBA mandatory and contractual rematch shenannigans. If he gets past them, only then will he seriously start thinking about the Klitschkos, so we're probably looking at Autumn 2011 at the earliest, assuming he gets past the others. He's made noises recently about liking the look of Adamek. Unfortunately, I have doubts that Adamek makes it out of his next fight with his profile intact, so that might put the brakes on that match-up. Haye's manager, Adam Booth, was interviewed on BBC radio immediately after the fight, and was pressed fairly persistently about who was next. You could almost hear the word "Klitschko" repeating in both the interviewer's and Booth's mind. Booth didn't rule out anyone, but he made it quite clear that they weren't committing to anybody and he was explicitly ruling-out naming names until after they'd had time to think about it. Reading between the lines, it was a clear message that they weren't going for the Klits straight away. We'd probably better get used to that in the short term.
i told everyone last year...there would be no klitschko fight in 2010. people said i was crazy, let him get his one fight out of the way ect ect....let him build it up.... yeah...ok.... let him hide behind a garbage belt like that and now use it as an excuse....
Haye faked an injury to avoid Wlad, because his managers probably convinced him there was more money to be made by taking the WBA belt from the clown Valuev. No use getting KO'd by Wlad and throwing millions of dollars away. I doubt he will fight the Klitschkos, considering that Wlad is 34 years old and Vitali is about 5 years older. They will probably retire at the same time or almost, probably next year.
I don't think he's 'hiding', really. It's just business. I think he's watched the way that Floyd went out on his own and, after he split from Maloney, decided to follow suit. I could be completely wrong, though. It wouldn't be the first time. He might sign to fight them next week, or not at all.
I've got a gut feeling that that will be the fight. One of them will fight him as their last fight, the way Lennox did with Vitali, hoping to secure their legacy by seeing off the 'mighty challenger'.
How so? Even if Vitali retired off of blitzing Haye, it wouldn't mean much as there's not much left in the division for an aging man. Wladimir has a few years to dispose of challengers, though.
It's called a 'gut feeling' because it's not based on objectivity or reason. I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised if it worked out that way.
Well, I sure can see why you feel that way, specially about Vitali. I mean, who else is there for him but Haye? Vitali thrives on challenges, expect him to dispose of Sosnowski, but not in emphatic fashion, he needs challenges.. Haye is a challenge physically, as Vitali is a little deteriorated. :good
I wouldn't be surprised to see Haye face Valuev next, probably around summer time. Then maybe he'll face someone like Hopkins or Holyfield(if he beats Botha). To make Klitschko-Haye a big HBO fight, Haye will need a big name opponent and Hopkins and Holyfield fit and are safe enough not to ruin a Klitscko fight. I think the earliest we see a Haye-Klit fight is early next year. I'm not sure which one he fights first but Vitali would be the smart choice. If Haye beat an aging Vitali early next year then a Wlad-Haye fight would be enormous.
